With a bad case of the blues and no obligations I decided to head south for Christmas. As always, the least expensive destination was Cuba. I was worried as the temperature can be on the cool side at that time of the year, but I figured that since it had been a warm fall in Florida, chances were good that it would still be warm in Cuba…and in any case it had to be warmer than Montréal!
I found a deal for a hotel in Cayo Santa Maria. This is one area I had not visited on my previous trip there and I had heard a lot of good things about it.
Although on a map Cuba is one large island (42,803 square miles / 110859 square km) in fact, it is also surrounded by thousands of smaller satellite islands called “Cayos”. Cayo Largo and Cayo Coco are among the better known ones.
Cayo Santa Maria is located off the northern side of the island and approximately midway between the east and west tips of the main island. It is 8 miles/13 kilometers long and 1 mile/2 kilometers wide and boasts 7 miles/11 kilometers of beaches. It has been connected to the main land by a man made 40 miles/64 km causeway on the sea.
The islet may have been designated a “Biosphere Reserve” by the UNESCO, but it was nonetheless targeted by the Cuban government as a resort area. So far three hotels have been built and there is a fourth one on the way, which makes for uncrowded and still pristine beaches.
The hotel we chose is the Melia Las Dunas. It is a fairly new property, spread over a large area amid luscious vegetation.
The layout reminded me of a butterfly. The reception and services areas, as well as the restaurants and main bar, are in the center of the property thus creating the body and on either side you have a symmetrical layout of buildings around the pools creating the wings. Those pools are huge and they each have a swim up bar as well as an informal restaurant.
The lobby is very large and open and leads to a path going towards the beach. There are several fountains along the way.
None of the buildings are higher than 2 stories so we had a pretty view of the pools and the ocean from our bedroom balcony.
The rooms are airy, the furniture is comfortable, the bathrooms well appointed.
The room service was very effective and thanks to the tile floors there was none of the musty smell you sometimes get in tropical hotels. The mini bar was restocked daily with free water, juice and beer. Speaking of drinks, I counted at least 10 bars on the property, from the dressy lobby bar to the specialty Mojito bar, from the beer garden to the swim up bars in the pools and the 3 “feet in the sand” beach bars. There was also a roaming bar on a cart that would chase us down with offers of four for one last call deals (amusing since all the booze is free). After trying just about every item on the menu it was agreed that their Pina Coladas were very nice, as were the Rum Collins, the Mojitos and the old rum on ice. They had an entire page of specialty coffees in the evening that were said to be very nice also.
Food has been an issue in Cuba in the past. I must say that in this hotel, there was abundance and variety. The presentation was very good. Some dishes were outstanding, such as the flambé bananas (that I had nightly…my potassium levels must be sky high right now). The made to order pasta was very good, even our Italian-speaking companion was impressed, the grilled to order fish was also excellent, and the grilled chicken and fries were great for lunch at the beach restaurant. Surprisingly the fruit at the buffet was often coming out of cans. But on Christmas eve they pulled all the stops and there was a spectacular spread including the ever-popular “langouste” (rock lobster) and filet of beef.
These razor clams in front of the shrimp intrigued me.
There are four “à la carte” restaurants at Las Dunas: a seafood, an Italian, a grill and a sushi. We tried 3 and each one was a pleasant experience. In each one the décor is more intimate than in the large buffet restaurants, the service was attentive and the menu abundant.
There was no entertainment in the restaurants but there was always a band playing during cocktail hour and nightly shows after dinner.
But THE reason people vacation in Cuba is the beach! It is beautiful.
Flour fine white sand, water that goes from turquoise to green to deep blue, nice warm water too! And waves that were perfect: enough to get you soaked real fast but not to throw you down. Needless to say you can walk that beach forever. There are plenty of chairs and palapas (sunbrellas) for everyone so there is not mad scramble at dawn to reserve them. To get to the beach you had to walk over the dunes on a wooden bridge.
The island is famous for its variety of birds. I did not see that many but did spot this mysterious guy on the beach one morning.
Mostly I got my thrills from the pelicans…I can never get enough of watching them zoom by the surface or dive or just float about. Strangely I never saw one with the pouch under the beak filled…I wonder if they are a different breed from the Florida ones I am familiar with or none of them got lucky while I was watching…
This one was almost out of the frame but the wing is so nice that I have to include it.
Besides bird watching and the obvious beach activities, the hotel offered kayak as well as catamaran rides.
I tried the catamaran. The winds seemed storm like to me but I am told they were only 25 miles an hour…I am proud to say I did not toss my cookies…but I did let out a few yelps every time a wave splashed me in the face…the little sails look so peaceful from afar…I was taken by surprise. It was fun!
People often ask if there is nude or topless sunbathing in Cuba. The answer is no and yes. I did not see any nude bathers but there were several topless ladies…not necessarily what you would wish for…
There was one wedding while we were there…watching the preparations was fun…especially this cheerful gardener who was busy making flower hearts in the sand.
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The ceremony itself lacked intimacy with all the bathing suit clad oglers…
These resorts are cut off from the rest of the world so I cannot say I got much of a feel for Cuban life save for the conversations I had with the lovely girl who flambéed my bananas nightly. All the staff comes from villages on the main land and they travel over an hour each way to and from work every day. The only sign that we were not on any other tropical island (besides the fact that there were very few Americans) was the lifeguard’s T-shirt, that said: “Cruz Roja, Cubana” (Cuban Red Cross).
It turned out that I had worried needlessly about the weather: it was sunny and warm the entire week, the water was also warm and cristal clear, there were no storms to delay our flights, everything went smoothly and everyone had a great time.